Creating Custom Shaders

This skill guides creation of GLSL shaders that integrate with the engine's shadow system.

Architecture Overview

The engine uses a shader injection system:

•You write fragment shaders with custom effects
•Engine automatically injects shadow uniforms and getShadow() function
•Use standard vertex shader or write custom one
•Register shader → Create material → Assign to entities

File Locations

Place shaders in your game's assets folder:

code

assets/
└── shaders/
    ├── my_effect.fs     # Fragment shader (required)
    └── my_effect.vs     # Vertex shader (optional, use standard)

Fragment Shader Template

glsl

#version 330

// Varyings from vertex shader (standard vertex shader provides these)
in vec3 fragPosition;  // World-space position
in vec2 fragTexCoord;  // Texture coordinates
in vec4 fragColor;     // Vertex color
in vec3 fragNormal;    // World-space normal

// Material uniforms (auto-set by raylib)
uniform sampler2D texture0;  // Diffuse texture
uniform vec4 colDiffuse;     // Material color

// Engine injects these automatically:
// uniform vec3 lightDir;    // Directional light direction
// uniform vec4 lightColor;  // Light color
// uniform vec4 ambient;     // Ambient color
// uniform vec3 viewPos;     // Camera position
// float getShadow(vec3 fragPos, vec3 normal); // Returns 0.0 (shadow) to 1.0 (lit)

// Time uniform (auto-updated by engine each frame)
uniform float time;

// Output
out vec4 finalColor;

void main()
{
    // Sample texture
    vec4 texColor = texture(texture0, fragTexCoord);
    vec3 baseColor = texColor.rgb * colDiffuse.rgb;

    // Basic lighting
    vec3 normal = normalize(fragNormal);
    float NdotL = max(dot(normal, -lightDir), 0.0);

    // Get shadow factor (1.0 = lit, 0.0 = shadowed)
    float shadow = getShadow(fragPosition, normal);

    // Apply lighting
    vec3 litColor = baseColor * (NdotL * shadow * lightColor.rgb + ambient.rgb);

    finalColor = vec4(litColor, texColor.a * colDiffuse.a);

    // Gamma correction
    finalColor.rgb = pow(finalColor.rgb, vec3(1.0 / 2.2));
}

Loading and Registering Shaders

In your main.go or init function:

eng.InitFunc = func() {
    // Load with standard vertex shader (pass "" for vsPath)
    myShader, err := eng.LoadShaderFromFiles("", "shaders/my_effect.fs")
    if err != nil {
        log.Fatal(err)
    }
    eng.ShaderRegistry().Add("my_effect", myShader)

    // Create material with shader and color
    err = eng.CreateMaterial("my_material", myShader, rl.Red)
    if err != nil {
        log.Fatal(err)
    }

    // Or create textured material
    err = eng.CreateMaterialTextured("my_textured_mat", myShader, "textures/wood.png")
    if err != nil {
        log.Fatal(err)
    }
}

Using Shaders on Entities

Via RenderMesh Component

// Use material ID (shader embedded in material)
scene.SetRenderMesh(entity, component.RenderMeshData{
    MeshId:     "cube",
    MaterialId: "my_material",
})

// Or override shader on any material
scene.SetRenderMesh(entity, component.RenderMeshData{
    MeshId:     "cube",
    MaterialId: "default",
    ShaderId:   "my_effect",  // Override material's shader
})

Via Entity Builder

entityId := scene.Spawn("MyEntity").
    At(math.NewVector3(0, 1, 0)).
    Mesh("cube", "my_material").  // Uses material's embedded shader
    Build()

Available Injected Uniforms

These are automatically available in your fragment shader after injection:

Uniform	Type	Description
`lightDir`	vec3	Directional light direction (normalized)
`lightColor`	vec4	Light color (RGBA)
`ambient`	vec4	Ambient light color
`viewPos`	vec3	Camera position in world space
`lightVP`	mat4	Light's view-projection matrix (for shadows)
`shadowMap`	sampler2D	Shadow depth texture
`shadowMapResolution`	int	Shadow map size (e.g., 2048)

Injected Functions

glsl

// Get shadow factor at world position
// Returns: 1.0 = fully lit, 0.0 = fully in shadow
// Uses PCF for soft shadow edges
float getShadow(vec3 fragPos, vec3 normal);

Time Uniform

The engine automatically updates a time uniform each frame:

glsl

uniform float time;  // Seconds since game start

void main() {
    // Animate based on time
    float wave = sin(time * 2.0) * 0.5 + 0.5;
    // ...
}

Custom Vertex Shader

Only needed for special effects (vertex animation, displacement). Use standard for most cases.

glsl

#version 330

// Required inputs
in vec3 vertexPosition;
in vec2 vertexTexCoord;
in vec3 vertexNormal;
in vec4 vertexColor;

// Required uniforms
uniform mat4 mvp;
uniform mat4 matModel;
uniform mat4 matNormal;

// Required outputs (for fragment shader and shadow system)
out vec3 fragPosition;
out vec2 fragTexCoord;
out vec4 fragColor;
out vec3 fragNormal;

// Custom uniforms
uniform float time;

void main()
{
    // Custom vertex manipulation
    vec3 pos = vertexPosition;
    pos.y += sin(pos.x * 3.0 + time) * 0.2;  // Wave effect

    // Transform to world space
    fragPosition = vec3(matModel * vec4(pos, 1.0));
    fragTexCoord = vertexTexCoord;
    fragColor = vertexColor;
    fragNormal = normalize(vec3(matNormal * vec4(vertexNormal, 1.0)));

    // Final position
    gl_Position = mvp * vec4(pos, 1.0);
}

Load with custom vertex shader:

shader, err := eng.LoadShaderFromFiles("shaders/wave.vs", "shaders/wave.fs")

Common Shader Recipes

Toon/Cel Shading

glsl

// Quantize lighting into discrete bands
float toonFactor;
if (NdotL * shadow > 0.8) {
    toonFactor = 1.0;
} else if (NdotL * shadow > 0.4) {
    toonFactor = 0.7;
} else if (NdotL * shadow > 0.2) {
    toonFactor = 0.45;
} else {
    toonFactor = 0.25;
}

vec3 litColor = baseColor * toonFactor + baseColor * ambient.rgb;

Rim/Fresnel Glow

glsl

vec3 viewDir = normalize(viewPos - fragPosition);
float fresnel = 1.0 - max(dot(normal, viewDir), 0.0);
fresnel = pow(fresnel, 2.0);

vec3 rimColor = vec3(0.0, 0.8, 1.0) * fresnel * 2.0;
finalColor.rgb += rimColor;

Hologram Scan Lines

glsl

float scanLineSpeed = 2.0;
float scanLineFreq = 50.0;
float scanLine = sin((fragPosition.y + time * scanLineSpeed) * scanLineFreq) * 0.5 + 0.5;
scanLine = pow(scanLine, 1.5);

finalColor.a *= scanLine;

Pulse/Glow Effect

glsl

float pulse = sin(time * 3.0) * 0.3 + 0.7;
vec3 glowColor = vec3(1.0, 0.5, 0.0);  // Orange
finalColor.rgb += glowColor * pulse * fresnel;

Dissolve Effect

glsl

uniform float dissolveAmount;  // 0.0 to 1.0

// Pseudo-random based on world position
float noise = fract(sin(dot(fragPosition.xz, vec2(12.9898, 78.233))) * 43758.5453);

if (noise < dissolveAmount) {
    discard;  // Remove fragment
}

// Glow at dissolve edge
if (noise < dissolveAmount + 0.05) {
    finalColor.rgb += vec3(1.0, 0.5, 0.0) * 2.0;
}

Setting Custom Uniforms

For dynamic uniforms beyond time:

// In a system's Update or init
shader, _ := eng.ShaderRegistry().Get("my_shader")
loc := rl.GetShaderLocation(shader, "customValue")
rl.SetShaderValue(shader, loc, []float32{1.5}, rl.ShaderUniformFloat)

// For vec3:
rl.SetShaderValue(shader, loc, []float32{1.0, 2.0, 3.0}, rl.ShaderUniformVec3)

Transparent Materials

For transparent shaders, mark the RenderMesh:

scene.SetRenderMesh(entity, component.RenderMeshData{
    MeshId:        "cube",
    MaterialId:    "hologram_material",
    IsTransparent: true,  // Renders in transparent pass
})

Transparent entities:

•Sorted back-to-front by view depth
•Don't cast shadows
•Rendered after opaque geometry

Debugging Shaders

•Compile Errors: Check console output when loading shader

•Visual Debug: Output intermediate values as colors:

glsl

finalColor = vec4(normal * 0.5 + 0.5, 1.0);  // Visualize normals
finalColor = vec4(vec3(shadow), 1.0);         // Visualize shadows

•Debug Color Shader: Use shaders/debug_color.fs as reference

Example Shaders in Project

See existing implementations:

•Toon shader: game/assets/shaders/example_toon.fs
•Hologram: game/assets/shaders/hologram.vs, hologram.fs
•Debug: game/assets/shaders/debug_color.fs
•Standard vertex: engine/core/shader.go (embedded)

Important Notes

•Shadow Injection: Engine auto-injects shadow code after #version line
•Standard Vertex Shader: Pass "" for vsPath to use built-in
•Gamma Correction: Apply pow(color, 1/2.2) at end for correct display
•Required Varyings: Fragment shader MUST declare expected varyings from vertex shader
•Time Uniform: Declare uniform float time; to use it (engine updates automatically)